CHILE AS A NEUTRAL.

Evening Star, Issue 24332, 22 October 1942, Page 4

CHILE AS A NEUTRAL.

It was reported this week that the Chilean police had detained a former German Consul-General in New York and that three men had been arrested as spies. There is a vast network of Nazi espionage all through ‘ Latin America, and efforts lately have been concentrated on the two States that seem most amenable to pro-Axis-influ-ences. These are Argentina and Chile. At the Rio de Janeiro conference in January the Foreign Ministers of the American republics recommended that all American nations should sever relations with the Axis Powers. Two States that did not fulfil this recommendation are Chile and Argentina. It was announced some time ago that the Chilean President had arranged to pay a visit to Washington this mouth, but so far there has been no report of his arrival there. A definite move by Chile to break with the Axis was expected to follow the meeting of the head of • that State with President Roosevelt. During the last war the overwhelming majority of Chilean opinion was convinced that neutrality best accorded with the interests of the country. To-day it is argued in some quarters that Chile can most effectively co-operate in continental defence by remaining neutral, and that her own peculiar problems of defence entitle her to claim a special position. ,

There is apprehension that if a break with the Axis occurred the Japanese might attack Chile’s exposed and unprotected coast line of 2,800 miles. Its distant island (possessions in the Pacific are hostages to fortune. It has •in Southern Chile an old-established German population. Its ports and mines are/ easily accessible to attack. Its shipping is Squally vulnerable. ■ The Chilean Government is composed of a coalition of democratic parties, and therefore it is not want of sympathy with the democracies' that explains Chile’s attitude. But self-interest comes first, and the belief up to'the present has been that it can best be served bv sitting on the fence, notwithstanding the painful experiences of smaller States in Europe. United States victories in the Pacific have had some effect on Chilean public opinion, and if the American forces are successful in the present fighting in the Solomons and New Guinea fear of Japanese naval operations on the west coast of South America should vanish, and a change in Chilean foreign policy result. It is considered that Chile’s President would not have accepted President Roosevelt’s invitation to Washington unless a major move was in contemplation in accord with the prodemocratic sympathies of the Chilean people, hut there are many influences at work preaching the gospel of prudence and snfetv. ,